Bareback December

I don't know, that post title sounds kind of dirty when I really think about it.

Anyway: it is too.flipping.cold. to deal with saddles. So the new routine is to pull blanket, fling on quarter sheet and bridle, and head to the arena.

This has many benefits: it keeps me warmer, it works on my balance & muscling, and it helps with the long slow work that we're doing right now. (Much less temptation to canter!)

Tuesday night, we did about 35 minutes of w/t work like that. I was surprised both by how well I sat the trot and by how he loosened up into the trot quite nicely, even with me sitting - usually he stiffens and fusses for quite a while, but he really was stretching long and low by lap 2.

This is not to say that I trotted for more than a few laps at a time bareback. I'm not that strong yet. But we'll get there.

If I ever get to the barn again while there's daylight (spoiler alert: not for at least then next 10 days, ugh), I'll hack him out bareback too.

What do you think, can I get through December without using a saddle once?

WW: Flying

My favorite picture of us jumping. Not perfect, but we both look happy and focused.

(yes, that is an upside-down canoe)

Giving Tuesday: Horse-Related Causes to Consider

Giving Tuesday started a few years ago as an alternative to the commercialism of Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday. It's a day set aside for donations to worthy causes. End of the year giving is a major push for nonprofits, as people look at their overall giving through the year and start to calculate their tax deductions. There are some statistics that suggest that budgets are balanced on the donations of the next four weeks.

With that in mind, here are a few horse-related worthy causes that are near and dear to my heart that I hope you consider during this holiday season.

Ever After Mustang Rescue

I adopted Tristan from this rescue almost ten years ago. Located in Southern Maine, they taken in unwanted mustangs from across the northeast. They specialize in BLM-gathered horses that have fallen on bad times. Some of them come in off the range and go into unsuitable homes, despite precautions, and it's a swift downhill slide from there. The summer I spent working there taught me more about horses than every moment I'd spent around horses before that summer.

They do extraordinary work, and they're in the midst of a capital campaign now to refurbish the outdated barn and provide real facilities to intake badly neglected horses and retrain them.

Equine Cushings and Insulin Resistant Group

As I'm sure you know from reading this blog, Tristan was diagnosed with Cushing's this past fall. This group, headed by Dr. Elaine Kellon, has been instrumental in helping me learn about the disease, and their commitment to scientific research, dissemination of information, and finding solutions have been instrumental in developing new therapies and making effective therapies more widely available. Even ten years ago, Tristan's prognosis would have been very serious, but he's doing great now at least in part to the work of this group. So check them out and consider donating!

United States Eventing Association Equine Cardiovascular Research Study

I love eventing, and it breaks my heart that so many horses are dying while doing it. This study has good people doing good work to help figure out the problems, and help make eventing safer for everyone. The link is to the main USEA donation page, but you can earmark your donation for the study by using the check boxes provided.

LOVE: Horse judging at the fair

I love everything about this photograph. Taken in Albany, VT, in September 1936 by Carl Mydans, who was employed by the Farm Security Administration. 

Isn't it practically a Normal Rockwell painting?

Horsey Advent Calendar

BRING IT ON, DECEMBER